Bill Finger
| birth_name = Milton Finger | birth_place = Denver, Colorado, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. | nationality = American | area = | cartoonist = | write = y | art = | pencil = | ink = | edit = | publish = | letter = | color = | alias = | signature = | signature_alt = | notable works = Batman, Detective Comics, Green Lantern | awards = Jack Kirby Hall of Fame, 1994 Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame, 1999 | website = | subcat = American }} Milton "Bill" Finger, (February 8, 1914 – January 18, 1974 ) was an American comic strip and comic book writer best known as the uncredited co-creator, with Bob Kane, of the DC Comics character Batman, as well as the co-architect of the series' development. In 1989, Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation, and wrote, "Now that my long-time friend and collaborator is gone, I must admit that Bill never received the fame and recognition he deserved. He was an unsung hero ... I often tell my wife, if I could go back fifteen years, before he died, I would like to say 'I'll put your name on it now. You deserve it.'" Comics historian Ron Goulart has referred to Batman as the "creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger". Batman inker George Roussos, a contemporary, said, "Bob Kane had the ideas while Bill sort of organized them"."Interviews with George Roussos", Dark Knight Archives, vol. 2, DC Comics, page 8. A DC Comics press release in 2007 stated flatly that, "Kane, along with writer Bill Finger, had just created Batman for DC predecessor National Comics." Likewise, DC editor Paul Levitz wrote, "The Darknight sic Detective debuted in [Detective] #27, the creation of Bob Kane and Bill Finger."Levitz, Paul. Retrospective, inside back cover of Detective Comics #500. Finger also wrote many of the original 1940s Green Lantern stories and would go on to contribute to the development of numerous comic book series. He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999. His name provided the basis for the Bill Finger Award, founded by Jerry Robinson and presented annually at the San Diego Comic-Con International to honor excellence in comic book writing. Early life and career Bill Finger was born in Denver, Colorado, to a Jewish family. His father, Louis Finger (b. 1890, Austria), emigrated to the U.S. in 1907. His mother Tessie (b. circa 1893, New York City) also gave birth to Bill Finger's sisters, Emily and Gilda. The family moved to The Bronx, New York City, where during the Great Depression Louis Finger was forced to close his tailor shop.Nobleman, Bill the Boy Wonder, p. 2 (unnumbered) Finger graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx in 1933. Archived page requires scrolldown. An aspiring writer and a part-time shoe salesman, he joined Bob Kane's nascent studio in 1938 after having met Kane, a fellow DeWitt Clinton alumnus, at a party; Kane later offered him a job ghost writing the strips Rusty and Clip Carson. Early the following year, National Comics' success with the seminal superhero Superman in Action Comics prompted editors to scramble for similar heroes.Nobleman, Bill the Boy Wonder, p. 5 (unnumbered) In response, Kane conceived "the Bat-Man". Finger recalled that Kane Finger offered such suggestions as giving the character a cowl instead of the domino mask, a cape instead of wings, adding gloves, and removing the red sections from the original costume. He later said his suggestions were influenced by Lee Falk's popular The Phantom, a syndicated newspaper comic strip character with which Kane was familiar as well,Kane, Andrae, p. 41 and that he devised the name Bruce Wayne for the character's secret identity. As Finger described, "Bruce Wayne's first name came from Robert Bruce, the Scottish patriot. Wayne, being a playboy, was a man of gentry. I searched for a name that would suggest colonialism. I tried Adams, Hancock ... then I thought of Mad Anthony Wayne." Kane decades later in his autobiography described Finger as "a contributing force on Batman right from the beginning... I made Batman a superhero-vigilante when I first created him. Bill turned him into a scientific detective."Kane, Andrae, p. 41–43 As Finger biographer Marc Tyler Nobleman described, "Bob Kane showed Bat-Man to editor Vin Sullivan — without Bill. Vin prompted wanted to run Bat-Man, and Bob negotiated a deal — without including Bill."Nobleman, Bill the Boy Wonder, p. 10 (unnumbered) Finger wrote both the initial script for Batman's debut in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) and the character's second appearance, while Kane provided art.[http://www.comics.org/issue/442/ Detective Comics #27] and #28 at the Grand Comics Database. Batman proved a breakout hit, and Finger went on to write many of the early Batman stories, including making major contributions to the character of the Joker Part 2, "Interview: The Joker’s Maker Tackles The Man Who Laughs", August 5, 2009. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. as well as other major Batman villains. When Kane wanted Robin's origin to parallel Batman's, Finger made Robin's parents circus performers murdered while performing their trapeze act.Kane, Andrae, pp. 104–105 Bill Finger recalled that, Comics historian Jim Steranko wrote in 1970 that Finger's slowness as a writer led Batman editor Whitney Ellsworth to suggest Kane replace him, a claim reflected in Joe Desris' description of Finger as "notoriously tardy."Steranko, p. 45 During Finger's absence, Gardner Fox contributed scripts that introduced Batman's early "Bat-" arsenal (the utility belt, the Bat-Gyro/plane and the Batarang).Kane, Andrae, p. 103Daniels, p. 31 Upon his return, Finger created or co-created items such as the Batmobile and Batcave, and is credited with providing the name "Gotham City". Among the things that made his stories distinctive were a use of giant-sized props: enlarged pennies, sewing machines, or typewriters.Kane, Andrae, pp. 119-120Steranko, p. 49 Eventually, Finger left Kane's studio to work directly for DC Comics, where he supplied scripts for characters including Batman and Superman (introducing to the latter's mythos the character Lana Lang). He would eventually write for other companies as well, including Fawcett Comics, Quality Comics, and Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics. Batman villains In 1994, Kane gave Finger co-credit for creating Batman's archnemesis the Joker, despite claims on the character by artist Jerry Robinson: }} Robinson, whose original Joker playing card was on public display in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, from September 16, 2006 to January 28, 2007, and the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia from October 24, 2004 to August 28, 2005, has countered that he created the Joker to be Batman's larger-than-life nemesis when extra stories needed to be written quickly for Batman #1 and that he received credit for the story in a college course. Regarding the Conrad Veidt similarity, Robinson said: According to Kane, he drew the Penguin after being inspired by the then advertising mascot of Kool cigarettes — a penguin with a top hat and cane. Finger, however, claimed that he created the villain as a caricature of the aristocratic type, because "stuffy English gentlemen" reminded him of emperor penguins. Daniels, Les, Batman: The Complete History, Chronicle Books, 1999, p. 42. Kane introduced the Scarecrow and drew his first appearance, which was scripted by Finger. The Riddler was created by Finger and Dick Sprang.Daniels, Les, Batman: The Complete History, Chronicle Books, 1999, p. 55. The Calendar Man was another villain created by Finger without input from Kane. Green Lantern In 1940, Finger collaborated with artist Martin Nodell to create the superhero Green Lantern in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940). Both writer and artist received a byline on the strip, with Nodell in the earliest issues using the pseudonym "Matt Dellon". According to Nodell, Finger was brought in to write scripts after Nodell had already conceived the character.Martin Nodell, The Golden Age Green Lantern Archives Volume 1, preface Nodell's name appeared first, before Finger's, in the bylines on the stories that he drew, although when ghost artists such as Irwin Hasen were used, Finger's name appeared first so that the credits then read "by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell". It is standard practice in Modern Age comics to list the writer first and the artist second. As a tribute for his work to DC Comics, the Green Lantern villain Black Hand (William Hand) is named after him. Film As a screenwriter, Finger wrote or co-wrote the films Death Comes to Planet Aytin, The Green Slime, and Track of the Moon Beast, and contributed scripts to the TV series' Hawaiian Eye and 77 Sunset Strip. He also cowrote a two-part episode "The Clock King's Crazy Crimes / The Clock King Gets Crowned", airing October 12–13, 1966, in season two of the live-action Batman TV series. Credit Artist Bob Kane negotiated a contract with National Comics, the future DC Comics, that signed away ownership of the character in exchange for, among other compensations, a mandatory byline on all Batman comics (and adaptations thereof). Finger's name, in contrast, does not appear as an official credit on Batman stories or films, even the comics he wrote in the 1940s and 1950s. Finger received limited acknowledgment for his writing work in the 1960s; the letters page of Batman #169 (Feb. 1965), for example, features editor Julius Schwartz naming Finger as creator of the Riddler. Additionally, Finger did receive credit for his work for National's sister company, All-American Publications, during that time. For example, the first Wildcat story, in Sensation Comics #1 (July 1942), has the byline "by Irwin Hasen and Bill Finger", and the first Green Lantern story (see above) is credited to "Mart Dellon and Bill Finger". National later absorbed All-American. National's practice in the 1950s made formal bylines rare in comics, with DC regularly granting credit in its comics only to Kane; to William Moulton Marston, creator of Wonder Woman, under his pseudonym of Charles Moulton; and to Sheldon Mayer. Personal life Finger was married twice. His first wife, Portia, 2, 2 February 2013. Archived from the original on 1 March 2013. Archived pages require scrolldown. was the mother of his son, Fred, who died in 1992.Nobleman, Bill the Boy Wonder, "Author's Note" p. 5 After their divorce, Finger married Lyn Simmons in the late 1960s, but they were no longer married at the time of his death. Fred's daughter Athena, born two years after Bill Finger's death, is Finger's only known living heir as of at least 2012.Nobleman, Bill the Boy Wonder, "Author's Note" pp. 5-6 Awards Finger, who died in 1974, was posthumously inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1999. In 1985, DC Comics named Finger as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great. In his honor, Comic-Con International established in 2005 the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing, which is given annually to "two recipients — one living and one deceased — who have produced a significant body of work in the comics field. References External links *Grand Comics Database * *[http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/03kane.html Comic Book Artist #3 (Winter 1999): "The Bob Kane Letter"] (September 14, 1965 open letter by Bob Kane) * Further reading * Category:Golden Age comics creators Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees Category:Jack Kirby Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from New York City Category:Jewish American writers Category:1914 births Category:1974 deaths